Wounds Run Deep
by Sicilian Defense
Summary: My name is Jason Grace. I am praetor of New Rome... In exile. During my diplomatic mission to Long Island Octavian decided to launch his own coup d'état and turn New Rome into his own little empire effectively plunging him into civil war with Reyna. Lately she's been ignoring me and I think it is about Piper. Now to fix this I need to help of Percy Jackson. Full summary inside
1. Bridging The Gap

_**Full Summary**_

_**My name is Jason Grace. I am praetor of New Rome... In exile. During my diplomatic mission to Long Island Octavian decided to launch his own coup d'état and turn New Rome into his own little empire effectively plunging him into civil war with Reyna. Lately she's been ignoring me and I think it is about Piper. Now to fix this I need to help of Percy Jackson. But I hear he has problems of his own. Hermes approached him and Annabeth to help him clear his name and prove he didn't steal something. Now I have a civil war raging across the US and Percy is busy dealing with some guy called Luke as well. Now it is up to us stop Octavian and his madness.**_

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**_Important Author's notes_  
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**For you to fully enjoy this story you need to read it as an actual story and not like a fic where the whole thing is about relationships, fluffy moments, angst or humor. It took me quite awhile to engineer this whole plot so like most Percy Jackson books it takes a few chapters to really get the ball rolling. So as per a planned story there are themes covered and a story engineered into it. We all know that in Lightning Thief the first few chapters were kinda dry compared to the rest. So just read on and I promise you will be rewarded.**

**This story will mainly focus around Jason, Percy, Annabeth, later on Reyna and a little on Luke. This is set after their quest to fight Gaia and it will be written in third person. It will also focus on the relationships between characters if any of you are looking for romance & friendship. There will also be things thrown in like old grudges, love triangles and some stuff I'm not going to get into just yet so not to spoil the surprise Other characters like Leo, Frank and even the Stolls will have parts of the story so it won't be exclusive to the four/five main characters.**

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**Act I: Diplomacy**

**Chapter I: Bridging The Gap**

After the end of the crisis with Gaia, the Romans for once have taken the initiative to repair their ties with the Greeks. Jason was honestly nervous since he wasn't sure how the Greeks would react. The Romans had tried to raze their camp to the ground and then stomp on the ashes for kicks. He was pretty sure that the Greeks would have a grudge and that they were looking for pay back.

'Jason, relax. They're not going to chain you to the wall and pour Greek fire on you.' Hazel joked as their trireme entered Long Island sound.

'Sure… I am really reconsidering my choices right now' Jason replied wearily, a lot had been going on recently after he got back from his last adventure.

'Reyna approved of this plan so it should be fine.' Frank said trying to ease the tension.

'Really? She seemed quite… I don't know, stone cold during the meeting. Well at least it was better than Octavian's constant raging about them being evil or something.' Jason wasn't sure where he stood with Reyna anymore. At first he just though her coldness was her natural defence mechanism to stress, now he was sure it was much more personal.

'I am sincerely thinking about just telling you it directly Jason but I'd rather not.' Hazel sighed. She honestly wished Jason just apologize to Reyna, but he never seemed to take the hint from anyone. Hazel for now decided to just let him think about it since they had a more immediate problem.

'Whatever… Let's just put on a smile and hope they don't shish kebab us.' Frank said cynically before the discussion could continue.

'So Jason remind me what we're planning to do for this whole trip… you know, before they attack us.' Frank asked somewhat rhetorically.

Jason went through the plan in his head again; it had definitely looked a lot better when he was still in the senate building. 'We are coming here to play some games with the Greeks, to show there are no hard feelings. And then we are going to see if they are okay with it.'

'That's one way to dumb it down.' Hazel said remembering how much more detailed it was in the senate meeting. She would never get used to wearing a toga, she wished that Dakota hadn't step down to prepare to go off for collage. Now she had to go to boring senate meetings and wear a bed sheet because she was the centurion.

'Percy and Annabeth both said it would be okay and that most of the Greeks are indifferent now.' Jason said

'For our sake I hope so,' Hazel sighed suddenly feeling nervous as well as they saw the beach up ahead. 'Since we'll never be able to out run the Greek ships in this hunk of junk' Frank finished.

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Percy and Annabeth were waiting on the sand dune on the beach, most of the other campers had mix feelings about the Romans raining car size rocks on them and saying sorry now, and so most had decided to stay at their cabins and wait for the leadership to take care of things.

That just left them and the other counsellors waiting on at the beach of their arrival. Some were anxious like Will Solace and Katie Gardner, Other like Clarisse wanted to just beat then senseless on sight and a one Piper Mclean was the only one overjoyed about them coming. Percy himself was happy to see his friends again but as Annabeth had told him. '_You're a leader Percy; you need to think a lot more about how they will react instead of how you or I will react.'_ Now Percy was also rethinking this meeting.

The Roman ship can in to sight and started its approach to the landing. Annabeth squeezed Percy's hand as they got up, she was nervous as well.

'I say we _blast _the punks out of the water!' Clarisse yelled, deciding that she rather shoot first and talk later.

'Calm down, they're here on a goodwill mission. Just give them a chance.' Piper said trying to prevent any violence from breaking out.

'Easy for you to say McLean! Your precious boyfriend is on the ship! Well I say we kill'em all before they cause any problems.' Clarisse said angrily.

'Do you know Gleeson Hedge?' Leo asked feigning innocence.

'No? Why in Hades does that matter now Valdez!' Clarisse yelled changing target.

'You'll love Coach Hedge then, maybe you two can go carolling! And sing every TV theme song and replace all the lyrics with violent words.' Leo said with a smirk on his face.

Before Clarisse could mash him in the face Annabeth decided to intervene. 'What Leo meant was that your being a little to confrontational.'

'Alright then Miss Perfect, I'll let'em visit. But don't think I've forgot about them trying to torch the camp.'

'Been there done that.' Conner said.

'Arson isn't really that big a deal, we've done worse.' Travis continued.

'Just shut you mouths Stolls and stop trying to create trouble.' Katie said dragging the Stolls away while smiling apologetically at Annabeth and Percy.

Nico started to walk down the sand dunes ahead of the rest since they were resolving their impasse. 'Crunch time' he muttered to himself.

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'I'd thought I'd never see the day Romans arrive on a ship.' Percy exclaim as he walked up and shook hands with Jason before fist bumping Frank and giving Hazel a hug.

'Nice to see you did try to blow us up on the way in. But is this really everyone at your camp?' Frank said counting only about 14 plus people.

'This is just the cabin counsellors, you know like those in a normal summer camp.' Percy replied.

The five other Romans that came along with the three alighted as well. While Jason, Frank and Hazel had walked in like the camp was a friend's house the rest walked in stiffly in carrying with them all their equipment.

'Everyone else is waiting up near the dining pavilion. I'll take you guys there now.'

They all gathered their stuff and began to walk back into the camp. They gave them the standard tour they would give to new arrivals. But like doctors being the worst patients, it was hard to give a tour to people who assumed they knew everything about the place already. Eventually they just gave up and started to talk to the Romans.

'So Jason, how come the Romans have ships now. Last time I checked you had a small old boat named _PAX_.' Percy asked.

'Well… you see, after we bombarded New Rome, Octavian manage convinced the senate to commission a navy to help destroy the Greeks.'

'So how did you get here so fast? You had to go all the way through the Panama canal.'

'Did I mention Octavian made them flying ships as well? We took the short cut, we fly over most of the US and landed at Key West and sailed upwards.'

'Why Key West? Why not just fly directly here?'

'We had some navigation issues and then some engine issues…'

'Octavian made a fleet of copied Argo IIs?' Leo yelled from the background. 'Why I'm gonna kill that scrawny-'

'Leo if it makes you feel better,' Jason interrupted 'they're really crude copies, like you said about the Romans and Archimedes's inventions.'

'Oh… That's good.' Leo said resuming his previous conversation.

'That was weird…' Percy said

'You get used to Repair Boy acting that way.'

'Well has been acting a little weirder than normal recently.' Percy noted. Leo had started on a personal project about two and a half months ago and since then he had become even more erratic.

'What now?' Jason honestly wasn't surprised.

'Don't know, but he gets touchy ever time we mention the Argo II or a ship.' Jason stayed silent for the rest of the walk to the pavilion. He was worried about Leo.

They reached the Pavilion and everyone sat down for dinner at their tables. For awhile it was awkward having the people that tried to kill you a few months ago sit down and have dinner with you and your family. But eventually they started to find common ground to talk about, even though it was about weak topics like the food. They were going to get settled in tonight before the capture the flag match started tomorrow.

Everyone drifted off from the dining pavilion and back to their cabins, Percy was dragged aside by Annabeth and Leo headed back to bunker 9 to work on his personal project which he claimed to be almost done with. Eventually Jason sat down with Piper by lake.

'So how's it been Pipes?' Jason asked

'Okay… I guess.' Piper responded, she had been excited at first but now that she thought about Jason she realized all the problems there were between them.

'So what's wrong?' Jason decided to be direct since he was sick of Reyna being cryptic.

'You Jason! That's what's wrong!' Piper snapped

Jason realized that may have came out a little too harsh. 'I didn't mean it like that; just tell me what's causing you all the grief.'

'It's just that after all this time you're always in camp Jupiter, you're always so busy over there so I never get to even talk or hang out with you anymore.' Piper said more evenly.

'I know, but… It's my job, it's my duty. I can't just drop something and hang out with you in Malibu on the beach. Plus Reyna had been stressed out managing everything by herself and I kinda owe her one.'

'Why is it always about Reyna?' Piper said wearily. 'I thought you said that she was okay with doing the work?'

Back in the day Jason and Reyna divided to Praetor work into different parts. Jason was the face of the legion; he would talk to people, find out about them and handle incidents or disputes. In battle he would be the once in the front leading the charge with everyone following him. Reyna was the coordinator; she handled the admin stuff managing logistics, people and the various works and projects going on in the camp. In battle she would be flying over head analyzing and developing tactics and strategies for the battle. In some ways the work was unevenly divided since Reyna had to handle to bulk of it since the Romans were a fan of paper work and bureaucracies.

When Jason had got back she said she was fine with pulling the most weight. For awhile Jason didn't notice since he was grateful to be back home and was preoccupied with reconnecting with his old friends. Later on he realized that Reyna had other motives and was doing it for a reason, at first he assumed it was spite but… he remembered that she's not that kind of girl. Right now Jason just couldn't but his finger on it.

'She's my friend Pipes, and she is also my co-worker. Her feelings and safety concern me a lot.' Jason wished he hadn't said that, it must have really stung for Piper.

'Jason, so is it her or is it your duty?' Piper replied keeping her emotions in check, although she wanted to shout at Jason at the moment.

Jason wanted to say both but he though over it for a moment. _Reyna is just my friend… I think and Piper is my girlfriend. So I better not say both, plus Reyna is giving me the cold shoulder anyway like I wounded her or something. I may have but… Right… let's not get into that now… and I'm talking to myself again._

'It's my duty.' Jason replied trying to sound convincing.

'You're such a Roman. That's a compliment by the way.' Piper decided to take the more diplomatic approach to this topic.

'Jason have you ever thought about staying here? Instead of in New Rome.' Although Piper had her own motives for asking the question she genuinely wanted to know Jason's answer as well.

'Yeah… I guess. When I couldn't really remember my past.'

'Then how about coming here and staying with me?' Piper knew it was a selfish thing to ask of Jason but felt neglected recently, especially since he was focusing so much on camp Jupiter and on fixing his relationship with Reyna. Piper could have sworn she could see a spark between them, but she preferred not to talk about that.

'Piper, you know I can't just drop everything. Even if I could I don't think I could bring myself to do it. I honestly love my Job; it gives me purpose, something to fight for.'

'Sparky, always the idealist.'

'Look Beauty Queen, I want too but I need to make sure that whoever comes after me knows what he is doing and doesn't demolish the place in under a week. And I gotta make sure that someone isn't Octavian.'

'Jason, you need to step down eventually. Why not just do it now?'

'Fine, it won't be so soon but I promise I'll make sure I can spend more time with you.'

Piper had heard that line before in all the movies she and her dad used to watch. She wasn't sure where this was heading anymore but she decided that at least he had got him started.

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**Alright so that's the first chapter. Please give any feedback or support. So this is just getting started but for Jason his relationship could go either way with Piper or Reyna.**


	2. Dead Ringer

**Alright, thanks for all the follows. So this chapter is going to be centring more on the Greek side of things. I hope you all like it and constructive criticism is welcomed.**

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**Chapter II: Dead Ringer**

Annabeth found that being able to see problems before they appear was a helpful trait she had picked up. Now she wished that she just as blind and oblivious as everyone else. The camp had a good influx of new campers this summer, normally that's good but there is always a catch when something goes well for demigods. The first great thing that happened to her was meeting Luke and Thalia, catch was that Luke became and traitor and Thalia became a tree. The next thing was when she met Percy, the downside was that every year or so he is sent on suicide missions and when they finally started dating he was abducted by an insane divine being. Point is that everything really does come with a price.

Having more campers was always good but that is where problems tend to come from. Zack to everyone else was the cool new guy. He dressed like a beach boy like you would see in Miami or Hawaii with cargos, T-shirts and Ray-Bans' and had sandy blond hair. To Annabeth he was a problem. Normally people come to camp at their pre-teen years; the only exceptions were Jason and his friends. The exceptions came with their own quest that involved the fate of the world. Luke was roughly 18 so Annabeth had decided to expect something bad but even then she suspected that there was going to be something worse that came along with him.

'Percy? Do you notice anything strange about Zack?' Annabeth didn't want to debate the topic in her head with herself; she found out a long time ago that that was a good way to go insane.

'The new guy from Hermes cabin?' Percy responded, he honestly couldn't see why she was suspicious of him. He seemed like a cool guy to him.

'Yeah, didn't you say that there was something fishy about him when he first came in?'

'No, don't recall a thing.' He didn't know if that pun was intended but he really didn't want to revisit that conversation.

Annabeth had no idea why Percy was dodging the subject but then she remembered the whole confrontation. 'Percy, I quote 'My Seaweed-sense is tingling!' I am pretty sure you have or had your suspicions about it.'

'Can we not talk about that?' Percy said slightly red in the face.

'I'm not interested about what you did Seaweed Brain. I just want to know what you were thinking.'

_Why does she have to bring that up again! I already felt stupid after that and now I have to say it again._

'I thought he was Luke so I attacked him… then I thought he was Octavian and told him to get out of camp, then-'

'I didn't mean that.' Annabeth sighed. The whole thing was so stupid to here. He attacked one of the new campers and then announced that he was their de-facto leader. Not the best way to make an impression.

'Right… Well he just seemed too good and way too old. I mean when I sucker punched him he reacted like lightning, and when we had our training session his drills were perfect.' Percy found that he was more observant than he thought.

'Do you think he could be like you or Jason… you know with the whole memory loss incident.'

'We would have known by now. It's been a month already so whatever god that did this wanted him to stay under the radar. Plus he would have some vague memories; right now it seems he remembers his life perfectly.'

Annabeth thought about it for awhile. Percy was right, a god had done this but for a different reason. Last time Hera wanted a big bang that would rock the boat, whoever did this wanted not to be noticed. They were clever to put him as a child of Hermes, they don't really have a distinctive trait or power so you could pass anyone as a son of the messenger god.

'So what do you do now Wise Girl, you're always the one with the plan?'

Annabeth really wanted to try to solve the problem actively but doing that would probably irritate a whole lot of immortals. 'We stick with plan A: Do nothing.'

'Really? Even I could have come up with that.'

'I have my suspicions but right now we can't prove anything and I don't want to create more problems.' Suspicions were an understatement, she was sure that it was Luke. But to her it was impossible and she sure as Hades didn't want to admit that Zack wasn't Zack.

* * *

Capture the flag was never pleasant for the losing team, they basically got their ego battered and bruised by the victors. Tonight it was going to be particularly painful for the loser. Why exactly Chiron chose to make it Poseidon versus Zeus was a mystery to Percy. The rivalry between the two was as old as time itself and bring it up was like shoot yourself and everyone around you in the foot. It was bound to get out of hand and stir up some old grudges.

Dinner was pretty hectic, Percy and Jason we running around to make sure that they knew who was on their side. Everyone quickly finished up the food and we starting to gear up for the battle. Hephaestus cabin was packing heat with a few oil drums worth of Greek fire and Apollo cabin was restringing their bows and packing their med kits. Athena cabin as usual was going over their battle plan and Ares cabin was arming themselves with every weapon they could find.

Chiron sounded the conch call and everyone headed into the woods. Apparently the match had gone from Zeus vs. Poseidon to a personal grudge match pretty fast. Everyone on either side had a bone to pick with each other. Ares cabin took every chance they could to attempt to mash Percy to a pulp. Hermes cabin was on their side because Annabeth had ruined their last prank. Aphrodite cabin wanted to get back at Hephaestus cabin for accidentally bombing their makeup with Greek fire. Demeter cabin wanted to get back at Hermes for almost pranking them. Apollo cabin was angry at Ares cabin for breaking their lyres and as usual one man Hades cabin just hated everyone else. Point being everyone chose sides so that they could get back at someone on the other side.

Percy had let Annabeth handle all the 'political issues' while he went about see how many people he had. He honestly thought that they were screwed. Apollo, Athena, Hephaestus and Demeter cabin were on their side with a reluctant Nico who only took Percy's side because he owed him a favour.

'Annabeth, Ares cabin is worth like three whole cabins of soldiers. Then plus Hermes being the biggest cabin around we're out number three to one.' Percy said as Annabeth whipped out Daedalus's laptop.

'I've got it covered.' She replied not taking her eyes off the screen.

'You've got it covered? What are you going to use your architectural program to bore them into submission?'

'No Percy,' She said slightly irritated 'we are going to have the tactical advantage.'

'Sure… whatever that means.'

'Look Seaweed Brain, this laptop is going to allow me to have a commander's view of the battlefield. So I can run this show while you be a Seaweed Brain and charge through the front door.'

'I resent that implication.' Percy said.

'Sure you do,' she said shaking her head slowly 'now go prepare to kick in the front door.'

Annabeth had it all planned out. Hephaestus and Demeter cabin would attack at both the flanks and draw them out since she knew Ares cabin couldn't resist a good fight. Then Athena cabin and Percy would blitzkrieg through the centre and grab their flag. Percy however dumbed it down to a smash and grab. She decided to just put it that way since most of the campers didn't know all about military history. Annabeth stayed behind with Apollo cabin since she figure it was the best place to operate as a commander.

The battle started relatively well, Hephaestus and Demeter both drew out Ares and Aphrodite cabin. Annabeth had thought Jason would have been better at the whole combat planning thing. He had let Annabeth bait him and draw his forces out and now he was going to get smacked left right and centre for that.

The boarders that divided both territories were marked by a small creek. Now Athena cabin along with Nico and Percy were going drive right through the centre and going to mash Jason before he knew what hit him.

'Come on! Smash and grab the flag!' Percy yelled as he charged over a ridge, Annabeth said battling Jason was like playing chess with a master. Percy found that it was like stealing candy from a baby, way too easy.

Percy expected to meet a defenceless position filled with only Jason and about half of Hermes cabin. Instead he found himself out numbered two to one and with the flag nowhere in sight.

'So much for a simple smash and grab.' Nico muttered as the whole of Hermes cabin and Jason moved forward like a well oiled machine.

Before Percy could retreat Hermes cabin had smashed into them drawing them into a brawl. Being out numbered meant a bunch of things to Percy. He was outgunned and outflanked so he knew he could escape or defeat them. But he wasn't outmatched yet.

'Nico, can you cut the head of the beast?' Percy yelled as he parried a blow from a member of Hermes cabin.

'Figuratively or literally?' Nico responded before creating a fissure sinking two campers into the ground.

Percy tried to remember that he was just 14, and for a small kid he was pretty scary being able to make the earth split under you or raising a whole bunch of undead warriors.

'Just try to take Jason out, if we remove him everything goes to Hades.' Percy was starting to get breathless fighting attacker after attacker.

'They just don't stop coming do they?' Nico smirked before lunging towards Jason while he was occupied fighting Malcolm.

Percy was never more grateful for Riptide then he was now. The sword was perfect for him, and every little edge helped when he was fighting Zack one on one. The guy was good and the only reason Percy even tried it was because Nico need time to get Jason away. Percy wasn't sure if that annoying kid could beat Jason but it was worth a shot.

Percy for once found himself unable to easily dispatch his opponent. And he had an eerie gut feeling that he had fought this person before. The sword that Zack was swinging seemed to be familiar as well. All the afternoons reading with Annabeth hadn't been a waste after all, thanks to that he managed to identify the blade. It was a European longsword, a full foot longer than Riptide. That was never good news.

Percy lunged forward using his shield to deflect his blade but Zack just side stepped Percy.

'Been awhile since I had a real challenge' Percy smirked as he recovered and returned to his proper fighting stance.

'Me too,' Zack replied 'can I at least have a shield?'

Percy wondered if he could trigger something by using a line Luke used on him quite a few times. 'Sorry Zack, you bring your own equipment to this party.'

'Where have I heard that before?' Zack seemed to be in déjà vu.

Percy seized the opportunity and slashed at Zack grazing his left arm leaving a nasty cut. Percy would have skewered him if he hadn't finally reacted. Zack gritted his teeth in pain as he returned to the present.

'Getting distracted eh?' Percy taunted. Distracting him was his best bet of winning.

'Let's get this over with.' Zack sighed as he launched an overhead chop.

Percy deflected the blade with Riptide and slammed his shield into Zack's guts. Zack groaned before bringing the pommel of his sword down on Percy's shield with a loud bang. He had used all his body weight in that drop and the force of the impact made Percy falter and lose his shield.

'Shield was useless anyway.' Percy said as he shook his left arm which felt alarmingly num now.

'Come now Percy, don't be a sore loser.' Zack said with a smile. Percy was sure that smile could have wooed almost any girl but right now he was more concerned about not being able to feel his own palm with his fingers.

Percy counter attacked with a low sweep aimed at Zack's legs. Zack brought his sword down blocking the blow before flipping their blades upward so that they were locked at shoulder level in front of them.

'You're good.' Percy said with his teeth grit in effort.

'Really? I've only been here like a month.' Zack was starting to rasp too.

'You done sword fighting before?' Percy was buckling slightly; he was good, way too good for a new guy.

'Nope, before this I was up in Connecticut.' Percy was trying to hide his surprise, he was sure that he knew someone that lived there.

'Doesn't seem like the kind of place for a guy like you.' Zack was also starting to quaver; the locked blades were obviously taking their toll on him as well.

'I lived in Santa Monica before I moved up there about half a year ago.' Zack was obviously trying to distract Percy to gain the upper hand since he seemed interested in his past.

'Well, it's been nice chatting to you.' Percy managed to side step Zack and attempted to use an upward stroke to dispatch him but Zack managed to block it with his cross guard.

Before Percy could recover Zack launched a wide sweep at his stomach, he thought he had cleared the blade before he felt the sting of bronze cutting into his flesh. Percy cursed himself for making a basic mistake; he had forgotten that Zack's sword was a good one foot longer than his.

Percy was unable to get close to him since he had the length advantage, eventually Percy worked around his defences and was about to slice Zack into half. Zack went for broke and decided to try a disarming technique. He wasn't sure how he knew it or whether it would work but he would have a nasty gash across his stomach if he didn't try.

The flat of his blade smashed against the hilt of Riptide. With a loud clang Riptide fell to the ground onto a rock. Percy honestly didn't know what to think, he has just been disarmed by the new guy… although the new guy was unusually good.

Percy had given up the idea of a fair fight long ago. He had lost count of the number of times he had lost because someone had played dirty. Although he hated to fight dirty as much as the next hero all is far in love and war. Percy kicked dirt into Zack's eyes right after he was disarmed and then sucker punched him in the guts. Percy called for a retreat as Riptide reappeared in his pocket.

* * *

'Annabeth I'm telling you they were waiting for us.' Percy had returned to their flag batter and bruised. It turned out that they had been played, once Hermes cabin had dispatched him the doubled back and hit Demeter and Hephaestus cabin from behind. Now the explosions echoing in the background was Hephaestus cabin using Greek fire to get away.

'So much for taking candy from a baby.' Percy said.

'Percy I told you fighting Jason was like playing chess with a master. I just turned out that he predicted out blitz play and decided not to use Hermes cabin to reinforce his flank.'

'Isn't Zone Blitz from football?'

'No Percy, Blitzkrieg, lightning warfare.' Annabeth regretted saying the word 'blitz' now.

'So where is Nico? He went off to lure Jason away, is he back yet?' Percy decided to change the subject.

'I don't know, but we'll be mounting a counter attack soon.' Annabeth and Percy went silent for awhile since Annabeth had started to plan their next move and Percy was still deciding whether to tell Annabeth about Zack. The pain from the fleshly bandaged wounds didn't help him think much.

He was sure she wasn't going to like it but Percy was sure that something bad was going to come along. Then again she was unrequitedly in love with the guy; she was probably going to think he was playing some kind of sick joke. But she had already brought up the topic so he might as well sound off.

'Urm… Annabeth? Did you know that Zack lived in Connecticut?' Percy had remembered that during the lead up to the battle of Manhattan he was their visiting May Castellan. Percy was willing to bite a brick if that was a coincidence… or maybe not, it sounded quite painful to him.

'What does that...' Annabeth stop mid sentence, her eyes were starting to redden 'Percy this better not be a sick joke.'

'Annabeth, as much as I wish this was my screwed up version of a prank… it's not. He's a dead ringer.'

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**Next chapter will have some of that Romance I promised although it may not be what you expect it to be. **


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